Category: RCL

If there was a problem that affects 25% of women on campus, then why wouldn’t there be a persistent effort to curb this issue? According to Penn State’s Gender Equity Center, one in four women, and one in sixteen men are sexually assaulted during their time as a Penn State student. Sexual assault and harassment on college campuses is a horrifying issue as many students’ lives have been significantly shattered due to one unexpected night or instance. This current situation has been entirely prolonged, possibly by a lack of education and because it exists within a society that continues to enact old-age gender stereotypes and fundamental mistrust towards victims of any kind. It is understandable that the issue of sexual assault is not one that is easy to solve, however its widespread and universal nature as it plagues and breeds upon college campuses should signify that this issue should be at the forefront of our minds. The advertisements “Unacceptable Acceptance Letters” and Penn State’s own “All In” campaign focus upon displaying how sexual assault on college campuses has been enabled through victim blaming and a demeaning mistrust towards victims. These notions are highlighted through commonplaces about college, an accusatory tone, and as well as the usage of imagery. Both of these advertisements urge audiences to thoughtfully reconsider their perspectives and convey a sense of urgency through straightforward presentations of the raw reality of sexual assault.

Firstly, the commonplace of college being a new, hopeful, and enriching experience is used as a background for both advertisements. The idea that college is a place where one has the best years of their life is often a universal one, as it has been repeatedly promoted and romanticized by pop culture such as movies and television shows. It is commonly believed that this period holds incomparable memories, more independence, freedom from controlling parents, a diverse atmosphere, as well as a fresh start to become the person that one wants to be in the future. Both advertisements use this previous knowledge and expectations about college and build upon these notions to convey the truth about the increasing prominence of sexual assaults on campus. Specifically, the “Unacceptable Acceptance Letters” advertisement envelops the reality of sexual assault as a part of the “college experience” that many students are facing today by first focusing on the idea of this commonplace and then mentioning that “one of these memories will include being raped by someone you thought you could trust” (Unacceptable Acceptance Letters). The advertisement uses the overtly positive and hopeful atmosphere of the “college experience” to its advantage by emphasizing that this is an unforgettable period that will allow one “to make lifelong friends and memories here on campus,” which builds up the emotional charge and importance of the memories to be made in college. This perfectly sets the stage for the shocking and climaxing point of the advertisement that mentions that one of these college memories will involve being raped, as this clearly contradicts the idea of the expected perfect college experience and therefore heightens the impact and memorability of this statement within the advertisement. However, The “All In” campaign advertisement does not directly use this commonplace to its advantage, but instead employs it strategically in a way that subtly implies its positive aspects. To explain this further, the advertisement is targeted towards college students and is presented through a text message exchange between two people. This advertisement seems fairly simple as it only features a couple lines of text, but displays the ignorance of failing to recognize and name instances of sexual assault for what they are, which may be due to the fact that people resist ideas that threaten their previously conceived notions of things. When faced with the fact of the massive instances of sexual assault on campus, the receiving person within the conversation states “That’s different. You know what I’m trying to say.” This in turn validates the rejection of the truth of sexual assaults  in order to follow the ideas of the perfect college experience, and that this must not be actually occurring on campus since it does not follow suit with the idea of the perfect college experience. (add closing sentence and wrap it up)

Additionally, an accusatory tone I used within both advertisements to extract an emotional response from the audience. Since both advertisements are heavily text-based, they rely on emotional appeals to directly connect with the audience effectively. The “Unacceptable Acceptance Letters” advertisement heavily relies upon tone to convey its message as it aims to directly impact the audience on a personal level, as it specifically speaks to the audience in a second person point of view. The “acceptance letter” of the advertisement starts off hopeful and endearing, but shortly switches to a dark and accusatory tone as it describes the unfortunate memory of being a future victim of sexual assault during one’s college years, yet having no one believe that this actually happened. This unsuspecting switch in tones immediately signifies something important to the audience as this stark contrast is not expected. For example, the advertisement states that “the claims you will make against your rapist will be ignored, much like your right to feel safe at school..we don’t respond to liar,” which makes the audience feel like they have a lack of control within the situation and have been blatantly ignored, overlooked, and invalidated. This unsuspecting switch in tones immediately signifies something important to the audience as this stark contrast is not expected. Furthermore, this accusatory tone clearly displays the true feelings of hopelessness and rejection that a victim of seual assault would actually feel within this situation. The harsh tone causes the audience to sympathize with the situation as they are directly being put into this hypothetical situation whether they like it or not. A similar application of an accusatory tone is also found within the “All In” advertisement as one person within the conversation states “she was asking for it.” This simple remark rejects the feelings, thoughts, and explanations of the victim being mentioned…

Revised Speech Outline:

Thesis: The advertisement uses commonplaces and emotional appeals, such as tone and imagery, to personalize meaning for the audience, as well as logical appeals to establish a factual basis for the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. 

• Statistic as a hook (1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted in college)
  • Explain how this specifically pertains to the sexual assault rates on Penn State campuses
• Background on advertisement (introduce it)
  • part of Goodby Silverstein & Partners Don’t Accept Rape campaign 
  • aims to educate about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, and the lack of action on the part of colleges in recognizing this issue
  • First seen in Harvard newspaper (Harvard Crimson) 
• State THESIS
  • The advertisement uses commonplaces and emotional appeals, such as tone and imagery, to personalize meaning for the audience, as well as logical appeals to establish a factual basis for the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. 
• Explain emotional appeals (tone + imagery)
  • Introduce commonplace of the “college experience”
    • Disillusionment of the reality of college
    • Don’t expect sexual assaults to be as prevalent as they are
    • College acceptance letters are usually an exciting event
    • Impact of the tone shift is heightened because of these positive expectations
  • Shift in tone/mood when imagery appears
    • Makes people feel uncomfortable, shocked
  • Raw and straightforward, doesn’t hide the truth and exposes the lack of safety on campus
  • Second person pov directly addresses audience
    • Forces audience to become a part of a real like scenario, and put themselves in the place of a sexual assault victim
• Explain use of logical appeals (statistics)
  • Statistic highlights the prevalence of sexual assaults
    • It is an unfair reality that has happened to a lot of female students
    • Facts that can’t be argued with
    • Proves that it is an issue that needs to be addressed now!!
  • Perfectly placed at the end of the ad to tie ideas together
  • State that it is a true story
    • Puts a “face” to the situation, rather than just using a fictional scenario
  • Makes the issue more blaring, want attention drawn to it
    • Impactful, impetus for change
• Closing Statements
  • Short summary of argument and rhetorical appeals
  • Strong, personal
  • CALL TO ACTION!!!!!

        If there was a problem that affects 25% of women on campus, then why wouldn’t there be a persistent effort to curb this issue? According to Penn State’s Gender Equity Center, one in four women, and one in sixteen men are sexually assaulted during their time as a Penn State student. This current situation has been prolonged by a lack of education as well as a societal enforced rape culture. The advertisements “Unacceptable Acceptance Letters” and Penn State’s own “All In” campaign focus upon displaying how sexual assault on college campuses has been enabled through victim blaming and a demeaning mistrust towards victims. These notions are highlighted through commonplaces about college, an accusatory tone, and pathos in the form of imagery.

Thesis: Explore how imagery is used to form personal and memorable meaning (pathos) for the audience, as well as how it uses statistics to call for immediate action and reform.

• Statistic as a hook
  • Pertaining specifically to the sexual assault rates on penn state campuses
    • Short background on issue and how it connects to the audience (use how we are all freshman, new to campus, looking for new experiences, don’t expect anything bad like this to happen to us→ expectations vs. reality)
• Background on advertisement (introduce it)
  • Campaign, where did it come from, year it started
• THESIS
  • Explore how imagery is used to form personal and memorable meaning (pathos) for the audience, as well as how it uses statistics to call for immediate s
• Explain imagery
  • How it makes people feel personally connected to the ad/empathetic
  • Imagine themselves/friends/family members in that position→ reality
  • Raw and straightforward, doesn’t hide the truth and exposes the lack of safety on campus
  • Forces audience to become a part of a real like scenario, put themselves in the places of sexual assault victims
  • Puts a face to an issue rather than just words and numbers 
  • shocking/ eye opening reality, blunt, straightforward, “in your face” → accusatory tone makes the reader feel uncomfortable
• Explain use of statistics
  • Without a context they are out of place, cold hard facts, not as effective
  • Here they are perfectly placed at the end of the ad to tie ideas together, make a long lasting punch
  • Makes the issue more blaring, want attention drawn to it
    • Impactful, impetus for change
  • Makes the advertisement credible
    • Facts that can’t be argued with
    • Proves that it is an issue that needs to be addressed now!!
• Closing Statements
  • Strong, personal, possibly relate to psu?
  • CALL TO ACTION!!!!!

Concerning the rhetorical situation, kairos is an essential aspect when formulating a rhetorical analysis, as this moment of opportunity could significantly aid one’s credibility and relevance. Kairos is an unidentifiable moment of time that can’t be predicted or replicated in which certain issues are highlighted over others. Thus, making it the perfect time to strike and propose an examination of that issue or event, sustaining a more influential impact than if brought up on regular terms.

The artifact that I have chosen is an information poster that addresses the stigma surrounding sexual assault and harassment. I found this poster in the hall of my dormitory, in a public place where everyone frequently passes by. Reflecting on my short time here at Penn State, I’ve noticed the countless posters, flyers, resource pamphlets, seminars, etc. that mention the topic of sexual assault and harassment. Even before I became an official “Penn-Stater” I had to take a required course on consent and the warning signs of a possible rape situation. Of course these are not light topics to be welcomed with, but this is the unfortunate reality of living on a campus inhabited by thousands of other unpredictable people.

The kairos associated with this topic is the surge of misconduct within fraternity houses and the rising numbers of sexual assaults on campus among the past couple of years. This intoxicating culture is complex, and is sustained by things that are too big to explain and understand. Society’s imposing values of a “tough” male and “subordinate” female would just be scratching the surface of the system. This artifact specifically flourishes because the topic of sexual assault is a living reality for men and women on campus, as well as because this topic is also becoming more acceptable to talk about. Relating to the world, the Me Too movement in 2017 has allowed many survivors of sexual assault or abuse to come forward and share their stories with confidence, and be embraced in a supportive atmosphere. Additionally, this movement has brought forth a committed motivation for preventing these occurrences from happening and educating against the stigma.